Fire Newsstand-9/24/12

With a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Crew Saturday evening, the Chicago Fire maintained their hold on second place in the tightly-packed Eastern Conference. After Crew forward Jairo Arrieta capitalized on a rare defensive miscue, Fire forward Chris Rolfe lead the charge with two goals in three minutes for a big Fire victory. Catch all of the highlights here.

The victory marked the eight time this season the Fire were able to come from behind to take the full three points, which Rolfe calls, “A good thing.”

One of the reasons the Men in Red were able to bounce back so quickly from the defensive gaffe that lead to the Columbus goal was the team’s positive mentality, which according to Fire Head Coach Frank Klopas, was evident in the team’s reaction.

Tim Howard, currently the top ‘keeper for the U.S. Men’s National Team, told Soccer by Ives that for Sean Johnson and his fellow young, American ‘keepers, while growing pains are inevitable, “The sky is the limit.”

With the result, the Fire remained in second place in Jeff Carlisle’s most recent Power Rankings for ESPN, setting up for an exciting match on Friday night against Sporting Kansas City, who are ranked third this week.

The Guardian says that there is “no doubt” that Friday night’s clash for first place under the lights of LIVESTRONG Sporting is a must-watch, so make sure to “clear your diaries.”